After reducing Ireland’s credit rating one notch to A- earlier today, Standard & Poors warned that a further reduction is possible but is waiting to evaluate the impact of recent capital investments into the banking sector. S&P said it estimates that the indebtedness of Ireland’s domestic banking groups at over 170 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. As a result, S&P said Ireland’s banks are currently dependent “almost entirely” on the European Central Bank to refinance their current market debts.
Source: The Canadian Press